This contribution to the Letter.Box.Stamp.Collect. project is from poet Trudie Murrell with her piece Father Son Cycle. Trudie says of the connection between the piece and the project:

I wrote this poem when reflecting on my son’s first year and complex shifts that occurred between my husband, my son and myself. Now as he nears adolescence and asserts his place in the world in different ways, I go back to it. I liked the circular nature of the subject material for this project but when I read that you were encouraging poets to experiment with form I decided to try and stretch myself to include a visual aspect to the poem as well. I am not a technically predisposed person and, had I the skill, I would have liked the text to be circular in a handwritten font with a beautifully patterned background with the texture of fine hand made paper. Think antique Victorian etsy printing press. In the adventure that unfolded while I tried to achieve that goal I found some very administrative looking flow charts. The description for the overlapping Venn diagram model that I eventually used talked of each circle being a separate point on its own but having a shared relationship with the main circle, which resonated with me, so I chose it. The font was an attempt at softening and personalising the text. Looking at the poem now I am reminded of circular embroidery frames and sayings stitched on cushions. I also notice that the text reads from top to bottom and then left to right like making a sign of the cross but I think that comes from a far more subliminal place than intention.